1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, an image forming system, a method for controlling the image forming apparatus, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an image forming system enables a user to transmit print data to a multifunction peripheral (MFP), which is an example of an image forming apparatus, from a client computer.
If a setup place of the MFP is a conference room, the MFP may be used by numerous users who are different depending on time. Therefore, it is important to ensure the security of a print product to be printed by the MFP. For example, as discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-342964, there is a conventional method using an entry and exit management server that can ensure the security of a print product to be printed by an MFP in a conference room. According to the method, the entry and exit management server manages users present in a room (i.e., a setup place of the MFP) and causes the MFP to perform a print output operation only when a user who has transmitted a print job from a client computer is present in the room. On the other hand, if the user who has transmitted the print job from the client computer is absent in the room, the entry and exit management server prevents the MFP from executing the print output operation to secure the security.
However, according to the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-342964, if a user transmits a print job from the outside of the conference room, the MFP does not start a print output operation until the user who has transmitted the print job enters the conference room (i.e., the setup place of the MFP). Therefore, if the number of copies to be output according to the print job is large, a user is kept waiting for a relatively longer time to obtain an output of a print product after the user enters the conference room.